His and Hers
by HPandTHGfan
Summary: It's James' birthday and Lily is being very secretive, planning the perfect evening. One-shot, Jily


It was a cold spring morning and Lily had been awake for 3 hours, she couldn't sleep. It was James' birthday and after dating for 4 months it had to be special, she had gotten him a lovely gift, nothing expensive, just something personal. She had also through about doing something romantic with him in the day but she knew that the marauders would have some sort of outrageous scheme planned. Part of her was jealous of them for getting him all day but a bigger part of her was looking forward to seeing their pranks and tricks, they always made her laugh. And then this evening would be the party that she knew Sirius was planning, claiming it to be 'the party of the century'. She had her time with him this evening, after curfew. This was what she was so nervous about, she had something very special planned for tonight. She realised she had been stood thinking for too tong and was wasting valuable preparation time and quickly retuned to work.

James woke at 4am and bounced around his room singing 'Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear meeee, Happy Birthday to me!'

Remus groaned and pulled his pillow over his ears, trying to muffle the sound of James out. Sirius threw the nearest item at him, his Charms essay, which had little effect. And Peter stayed still, hoping he would just give up. They had no such luck, James jumped from bed to bed, making them all get up. James may have matured over the past year but his birthday still had him regressing back to 11 years old. With a sigh all 4 were soon in the common room, planning the days escapades. They had 1 major one planned, plus a few little things hear and there. With the day planned they headed down to get some breakfast.

Lily was still rushing around when she realised it was halfway through breakfast. She quickly whisked herself into the great hall, grabbed a slice of toast, kissed her birthday boy quickly and hurried out again, she still wasn't ready for the evening and with classes starting all too soon her time was quickly escaping.

James watched her go, slightly bemused, he has expected a little more from his girlfriend if he was honest. His face fell a little but his thoughts were interrupted by the post, he had received 3 letters from various family members wishing him a happy birthday that he opened first and then there was another addressed to him in a handwriting that was as familiar to him as his own, Lily's. Opening the wax seal carefully he took it all in.

_James, _

_Happy Birthday. I'm sorry I am in a bit of a rush today, things to do you see. I hope you have a wonderful day with the Maruders and I look forward to seeing all the havoc you lot cause. Now I wanted us to have some time together today so meet me in the Astronomy tower at 10pm._

_Yours Forever, _

_Lily_

In the bottom corner of this little note was a read lipstick mark where she had kissed the page. James smiled and saw the guys looking at him.

'Lily has given me to you for the day, we are meeting tonight' he grinned

The three others looked kind of shocked, they had expected to have to battle with Lily for Prongs today. The thought of her knowing how much they meant to him and giving them this made all of them like her a bit more, not that she needed them to, they all thought she was wonderful really. Reminding Prongs to spend time with the Maruders when he got too caught up with her, making him do homework, even joining in on the occasional prank.

They day went well, they turned Mrs Norris bright pink, made the green lights in the Slytherin glow bright red and yellow, and, because James was a sentimental little bugger, they had a single Lily appear in every single painting. But the best was yet to come.

Meanwhile, Lily had been scurrying around the castle all day, the Maruders would catch the glimpse of her here and there, sometimes she would give a small wave, sometimes James would get a peck in the cheek, but more often then not she would scurry off, leaving James thoroughly perplexed. Lily was glad it was a Friday because after all this she would need the weekend to recover. She had been all over the castle, from the kitchens to the owlery and all over the grounds and she was nearly done. She had skipped lunch and was running on empty but was determined to make this night perfect.

Finally she made it to dinner, she wasn't going to miss this. Unsurprisingly the Maruders weren't there yet, so she sat with her friends, leaving room for the Maruders when they did finally enter. She didn't have to wait long, 10 minutes later she heard the doors to the Great Hall open and four boys on broomsticks came flying in, throwing round orbs in the air as they went. These orbs hovered for a moment before exploding into an amazing display of fireworks, when the glitter touched the ground toads appeared, covering the floor, but these toads weren't ordinary toads, the when they made they didn't ribbit, they sang, the Great Hall was full of singing toads. The students laughed and began eating to the sound of the singing toads.

James came and sat down next to Lily who was piling food onto her plate, visibly hungry. He chuckled to himself 'So Lils, what have you got planned for this evening?'

She chewed and swallowed quickly before answering, 'It's a surprise' James couldn't help but notice that she looked a little tired and put his arm around her shoulders, which she leaned into and rested her head on his shoulder, shutting her eyes for just a moment and breathing him all in.

Before long dinner was over and people made their way back to their respective common rooms, with the thought of the much awaited party on everyone's mind, well everyone minus two. Lily was busy with the final preparations for the night and James was curious about what she had planned.

7pm came and half the school gathered in the Room of Requirement for James' party, one of those notably absent was Lily. A few people speculated that their was cracks in their relationship, I mean why else wouldn't she be at her own boyfriends Birthday party. But those who knew the couple thought very differently, they suspected that there was a change in their relationship coming, and one for the better.

Upstairs in her dorm Lily was busying herself with making sure she looked good. She took a sip of a potion she had brewed that would rejuvenate her, taking all the weariness from the day away. She checked herself in the mirror, she wore very little make up, just a tiny bit of mascara and lip gloss, a pair of tight fitting jeans that showed her figure and a low cut top that James loved. With that she made her way to the astronomy tower, nerves making butterfly's in her stomach.

It was 9:40 when James slipped out of his party and made his was to the tower. He was excited to finally get to spend time with Lily, after all that was all he really wanted for his birthday.

Lily could hear his steps has he came up the tower, she took a few deep breaths and then she saw him, and her heart fluttered like it did every time she saw him.

James took a step through the doorway and his breath caught in his throat when he saw her, she was looking stunning. Before he even realised what was happening he had taken the few steps across the room and crushed her against him, hands on her waist, her hands through his hair, lips fitting together like they were made fore each other. After a few moments they pulled away, smiled equally wide on both of their lips, foreheads touching. 'You are beautiful' he whispered. Her could feel hear heart flutter at this. 'Happy Birthday' she said as her lips brushed against his.

Now she took a small step away, a playful glint in her eyes. 'Don't you want to know what we are going to do?' She grinned.

'Of course I do, I was just admiring the view' he said, looking her up and down.

'Well come and enjoy this one' she pulled him towards the window, his hand still on her hips and she slipped her hand into the back pocket of his jeans as the looked.

James didn't notice at first but there were small lights flitting around, almost beckoning him to follow them, he looked to Lily and somewhen she had grabbed his broom and offered it to him. He climbed on and pulled her on behind him. Lily wasn't a keen flyer but she trusted him completely, so, with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist he look off, chasing the orbs. She laughed with joy and so did he, lost in their own private world. As he got closer to them he could see they were really snitches, charmed to glow so they could be seen in the dark. They seemed to be teasing them as if goading him to catch them, and he went for it, and caught one with ease. He held it in his hand and looked at it as it sat in his palm and handed it to Lily, she blushed slightly, then grasped her boyfriend as he spend up, aiming for another one. This one was harder to catch as it was following the others, leading them somewhere without him realising it. Soon he caught it and took in where they were, just above the Quidditch pitch. The rest of the balls of light went dark and flew in all directions.

James landed them softly on the pitch and Lily held his hand and with a flick of her wand lit the candles and torches that she has placed around, illuminating a blanket that had been spread on the pitch along with a few pillows. Lily took a deep breath, this was the part of the evening she was most nervous about. This was the bit that took weeks of preparation. This was the bit that could go horribly wrong.

She and James lay down on the blanket, talking about this and that and just enjoying each others company. 'James' she asked, 'When did you first cast a corporeal patronus?'

'Fifth year, you?' He queried, unsure of the reason behind it but not questioning her further.

'Fifth year as well, it was a cat'

'Mine's a stag' he observed

Silently, as she had been practicing for weeks, she cast the patronus charm with a flick of her wand. Out of her wand didn't come a cat, but a doe, the other half of James'. He smiled and cast the spell himself, saying the words, but not particularly loudly. The stag and doe played and frolicked together. James and Lily watched for a few moments before she turned and looked at him. 'It changed' she whispered 'it changed because I fell in love' she said, as if she had been holding it in for a long time, like letting go of a secret. They looked deep into each others eyes for what felt like and eternity but in reality was just a few seconds. 'I love you' finally escaped her.

James didn't think he could be any happier than he was but he was proven wrong as those words left her lips. 'I love you too' he replied, no hesitation, no need to think, just raw emotion, this was real.

They came together into a tender embrace, this wasn't steamy and rushed as sometimes it might be, this was slow, soft, delicate. They didn't need to rush, they were each others forever and always.


End file.
